The European Court of Justice shocked RCBI industry earlier this year, with their ruling against Malta's popular CBI program. They appeared to call out golden visas at their core when compelling Malta to end theirs.  The ECJ accused the CBI program of essentially commercializing nationality (and by extension European Union citizenship). They called it "transactional," and lacked a "genuine link" to the country. In response, Malta has been tackling ideas of ways someone can formally prove themselves worthy of citizenship, without being accused of just performing a transaction.  

How does one show a genuine link to a country they've fallen in love with, but were not born in? In what way does someone audition to be a citizen? And what kind of citizen does a nation need? Malta has been fast-tracking their Citizenship by Merit program with answers to these questions. Dr. James Muscat Azzopardi sits down with Mona and Rebecca to discuss what one will now have to do to become Maltese.